The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has on Monday announced that they will be penalizing any of their members contesting in the upcoming parliamentary elections independently.
The announcement follows a Supreme Court decision also on Monday morning over a case questioning the constitutional validity of a statutory hold on members who lose internal party primaries from contesting in national elections.
Former MP Abdulla Jabir submitted the case after losing his bid to attain a ticket from MDP in January.
On grounds of political freedom, the apex court held that the 2013 amendment to the Elections Act is invalid, and has ordered the Elections Commission to allow such individuals to submit candidacies for the upcoming parliamentary elections; setting a new deadline for them at 4pm on March 4th.
A bill to repeal the amendment was submitted by Dhidhdhoo constituency MP Abdul Latheef Mohamed in December of 2018.
